Kildare senator 'appalled' at condition of Kildare post-primary school

A Kildare South senator has admitted she has been “appalled” by conditions at Curragh Community College, The Curragh, County Kildare, which she visited recently.

Senator Fiona O'Loughlin (FF), speaking in the Seanad this week, told the Minister for Education and Youth, Deputy Hildegarde Naughton that emergency works are required for the school, which remains heavily over-subscribed.

The Kildare South senator told the Minister that although works are progressing on a new school building in Kildare town, this project is at tender stage, and things had become “very bad” at the existing school building in the Curragh in the interim.

Curragh Community College, the senator stated, was originally built for 140 students, but currently has 300.

Things have gone “from bad to worse”, Senator O'Loughlin said, with the school now well over capacity, and almost 40 staff members now sharing a staff room “that accommodates 10 people.”

“There have been numerous communications from the staff and many from students as well”, Senator O'Loughlin added.

“The week before last, I went to the school at the behest of some of the teachers and was appalled by what I saw. Three of the classrooms cannot be used because of damp and mould. The issue is that the roof has been leaking, so the school has made an application for emergency works for a new roof.

“This absolutely has to be expedited as soon as possible.”

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According to Senator O'Loughlin, the school is at the moment shipping fifth and sixth year students to an alternative location a few miles away, in itself presenting logistical problems.

Some of these students have contacted Senator O'Loughlin directly on the matter, she said.

“I particularly want to mention an email I received from Alannah Dunne, Ali McGannon and Libby Christie. They speak about neglect, broken promises and ongoing safety concerns.

“As students, they say that everything about the place has declined rapidly. I want to be very clear. The staff of the school are excellent. The atmosphere of support for one another between the whole school community is top class.

“The principal, Nessa Doyle, and her team are doing incredible work with students who now come from a much wider area. However, what they are going through at the moment is shocking. I hope the Minister can give us some up-to-date information on this.”

When contacted by The Leinster Leader this week, the Department of Education and Youth stated:
“With regard to the school’s current accommodation, where unforeseen emergency conditions arise, the Emergency Works Scheme (EWS) is available. The EWS ensures the availability of funding for urgent works to those schools that are in need of resources as a result of an emergency situation.

“An emergency is deemed to be a situation which poses an immediate risk to health, life, property, or the environment, which is sudden, unforeseen and requires immediate action, and in the case of a school, if not corrected would prevent the school or part thereof from opening.

“The EWS operates on the basis of the minimal scope of works required to remedy an emergency situation and usually provides an interim solution until such time as a comprehensive solution can be progressed.

“In the case of the school in question it should be noted that a site visit was carried out by a member of the Department's technical unit late last year in order to assist the school with guidance on how to address some of the accommodation issues the school faces.

“The EWS team subsequently contacted the school patron with advice on next steps on how to apply for EWS funding to remediate the emergency issues, including advice on sequencing the works in a manner that ensures the affected classrooms can be brought back into use as a matter of urgency.”